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La Tijera Blvd. will never be the same. Neither will the space program. Photo by Mark Vaughn

Space Shuttle Endeavour's Final Mission: A host of support crew and a crowd of fans cheer on the last run on the last NASA space ship

October 11, 2012

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We missed seeing the pyramids being built, the transcontinental railway, Hoover dam and the Golden Gate bridge under construction, but we can now say that we caught a glimpse of the space shuttle Endeavour crawling along at less than two miles an hour through the pre-dawn darkness of West Los Angeles and it was every bit as impressive as those edifices must have been under construction.

Endeavour left the United/Continental Hangar at Los Angeles International Airport early this morning, went through LAX's Northside access road security gate and began its slow crawl through the city on its final, 12-mile journey to its new home at the California Science Center near downtown LA. After 30 years of missions, this is the last journey any shuttle will ever take.

Just to refresh all of our memories, here's what NASA says about the shuttle program: “…through 30 years of missions, starting with Columbia and continuing with Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour, the spacecraft has carried people into orbit repeatedly, launched, recovered and repaired satellites, conducted cutting edge research and built the largest structure in space, the international space station.”

All of which you seem to think about when you see it rumbling past only a few feet away.

The sheer size of the shuttle is overwhelming, you feel like you're watching a movie when you see it. It's 78 feet wide wingtip to wingtip and 58 feet tall, as high as a five-story building. Imagine a five-story building being wheeled down a suburban street. The police, fire, paramedic, engineering and tree-trimming squads that accompanied it like moths buzzing around a very expensive space age flame were almost as impressive as the big bird itself. For some reason there was even a porta-potty pumping truck festooned with American flags travelling in front of it. Hundreds if not thousands of people were standing out in the cold, lining La Tijera Blvd. just outside LAX at 3:30 a.m., cheering every time the massive black and white space ship wiggled another couple of feet. At first all we could see was the top of the massive vertical stabilizer, slicing through the darkness like a giant, post-Cold War shark fin in the night . Little kids, sleeping in the backs of Suburbans in their favorite Spiderman PJs, were nudged awake by awestruck parents. “Look,” the parents said. The kids looked.

“Holy crap,” said one photographer near us as the shuttle slowly and inexorably wheeled out from behind the trees and into view. “Only America would build something that big and then launch it up into space.”

The cockpit windows were blocked out. There were no lights shining on it except the mercury vapor street lights that happened to be on. And there was no music; for some reason we expected music, John Phillip Souza or Bruce Springsteen or something. But as the final shuttle worked around the corner and into full- glorious view, a cheer rose up from the people. In some incongruous way this behemoth and all it represented washed a wave of pride over the crowd that few other things could.

The journey continues for two days, with arrival scheduled for the Samuel Oschin Pavilion at the California Science Center Saturday night. The Endeavor will officially open for viewing October 30. See www.californiasciencecenter.org for more information about that. Until then, get down to La Tijera and Sepulveda, or somewhere along Manchester Blvd., and have a look at history creeping along for all to see.